Shī yǎnyì 詩演義
An Expansion of the Meaning of the Classic of Poetry by 梁寅 (Liáng Yín, 1303–1389)
About the work
A 15-juǎn late-Yuán / early-Míng textbook Shī commentary, expanding on Zhū Xī’s Shī jí zhuàn. Liáng Yín’s self-preface declares the audience: “This book is made for young learners. I survey philological glosses widely to open up their blockages, root in righteous principle to develop their faculty. What is hidden, I make visible; what is sketchy, I make detailed.” The Sìkù editors agree with the self-assessment: the book is “shallow and easy to see, close-to-the-text and not branching” — the very virtues a Yuán zhèngshí learner would look for, “still better than empty-talk lofty discussion or wild personal interpretation.” This is among the more measured Sìkù verdicts on a Yuán Zhū-Xī-school work.
The Sìkù base-text breaks off at Xiǎo Yǎ Tiáozhīhuá with everything after lost, but the surviving portion is already 15 juǎn. Zhū Yízūn’s Jīngyì kǎo records the title as 8 juǎn with the note “not seen”; this juǎn-count is necessarily wrong since the partial text already has 15 juǎn. The Sìkù editors note: “Zhū Yízūn never saw the book; he just recorded the report. The juǎn-count error is naturally explained.”
Tiyao
By the Yuán Liáng Yín. Yín has the Zhōu Yì cān yì, already catalogued. This work expands the meaning of Master Zhū’s Shī zhuàn, hence the title. There is a self-preface saying: “This work is made for young learners. Broadly investigating the xùngǔ to open up their blockages, rooting in righteousness-and-principle to develop their faculty. What is hidden, I make visible; what is sketchy, I make detailed.” Now examining its meaning, mostly shallow and clear, close-to-the-text and not branching — the Yuán Confucians’ learning is rooted in solidity and substance, still better than empty talk of lofty discussion or wild personal interpretations.
Zhū Yízūn’s Jīngyì kǎo has this work in 8 juǎn, noted “not seen.” The present edition runs through Xiǎo Yǎ Tiáozhīhuá and stops; everything after is missing — yet it already has 15 juǎn. So “8 juǎn” is not correct. Zhū Yízūn had not seen this book, only recorded the report; the juǎn-count discrepancy thus has its reason.
Abstract
The Shī yǎnyì is a measured Shī primer, suited to its declared pedagogical purpose. Liáng Yín — the elder Yuán Confucian philosopher and educator who lived through the YuánMíng transition (rejecting Hóngwǔ’s official summons in 1370 and remaining a private teacher to the end of his life) — writes here in his characteristic role as Shīshān shānzhǎng (head of the Stone-Mountain Academy in Xīnyú). The Sìkù verdict — shallow but not wandering — captures a particular kind of Yuán scholarly virtue. Composition is bracketed by Liáng Yín’s mature post-1340 teaching career (he was Jí’ān lù xuézhèng under the Yuán until forced retirement) to his death in 1389. The Xiǎo Yǎ-and-after text loss apparently happened in late-Yuán / Míng transmission and was already complete by Sìkù time.
Translations and research
No translation. Treated in studies of the early-Míng Shī and Yuán-Míng jīngxué transition: Bao Lǐlì, Yuándài Shī xué shǐ; Cài Fāngdé, Zhū Xī jīngxué. Liáng Yín himself is a substantial figure in late-Yuán intellectual history — the Yuán-shǐ Rúlín zhuàn and the Míng shǐ Rúlín zhuàn both treat him.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editors’ praise of “Yuán Confucians’ learning is rooted in solidity and substance, better than empty-talk lofty discussion” is unusually generous for the tíyào tradition, and reflects a broader editorial preference for the unpolemical Yuán Shī-pedagogical works over the Sòng schools’ partisan commentary.